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What is the Apple MacBook Air 2018?
The new MacBook Air 2018 line has finally arrived. And by "finally," I hear Apple gave this much-loved ultrabook a modern update, instead of the iterative jumps we've seen with the latest releases.
In addition to tipping a Retina display, which incorporates a resolution of 2560 x 1600 in a 13.3-inch panel, you'll find the T2 security chip, which automatically encrypts your files and offers a secure boot option. This latter choice may primarily interest IT professionals, system administrators, or anyone who buys your business laptops. But for ordinary consumers, the T2 chip offers you a level of security that was only available to buyers of the MacBook Pro 2018 and iMac Pro (and the future Mac Mini 2018).
In terms of appearance, the new MacBook Air retains the clbadic wedge shape that set the bar over ten years ago. While many laptops look like this these days, Apple can take a lot of credit.
Compared to the 2017 MacBook Air Series, this year's models are about 10 percent thinner, with a smaller footprint that Apple says shrinks to just over a centimeter from the x and y axes .
In addition to that, you get more processors up to date running the show and up to 16GB of RAM, up to 8GB from the previous generation.
The MacBook Air review unit was not long enough to make a full verdict, but here is what I think so far. Consider this article as an ongoing review that I will periodically update over the next few days.
The new 2018 MacBook Air is so lightweight that we sometimes forget that its case is recycled aluminum.
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Apple MacBook Air 2018 – Design and Features
The new MacBook Air works as usual, it is only thinner, better, faster, smoother.
Slimming means that it weighs only 1.25 kg. This is an impressive achievement, as the monocoque body is a heavy aluminum alloy instead of a lighter, more flexible magnesium-based alloy weighing about 1 kg in the LG Gram range.
During the few days I spent lugging the MacBook Air, I hardly noticed it was there. Again, before that, I used the very big Asus ROG GL504 Hero II gaming laptop as a daily driver, which partly explains that.
In terms of physical connectivity, you only have two USB-C ports, both of which support the Thunderbolt 3 standard.
That means you can benefit from things like video relay (Using the DisplayPort 1.2 video standard) Data rates up to 40 Gbps and the ability to chain in series, your MacBook Air could therefore become the junction point of a powerful home studio.
From the beginning, you are very limited. Note that most of the time, one of these USB-C ports will be occupied by the AC adapter. a USB-C port in practice.
It's nice to keep things in place, but only two ports?
Nowadays, more devices are compatible with the standard Thunderbolt, which is a good thing, but it's really only an advantage if you have a large monitor with a lot of extra connections or a dock that you had to buy to use it with a previous MacBook. Not to mention a credit rating / budget sufficient to cover additional expenses.
As with the 2018 MacBook Pro, Apple does not even offer a USB-C to Ethernet adapter, a bonus that most other notebook makers are happy to offer with their high-end models.
Apple claims that this generation of MacBook Air is the first to offer a fully recycled metal case.
This is apparently the leftovers left behind when other MacBooks have been machined into metal blocks. The chips are simply gathered and remelted, instead of using extracted, extracted and melted materials from bauxite.
Apple claims that the 2018 MacBook Air are the most environmentally friendly to date and that this measure fits in as part of a broader effort to reduce by 50% the carbon footprint of the company. ;business. The enclosures of the new Mac Minis will also be designed in the same way.
Although I have not had the time to badyze the entire supply chain and manufacturing of Apple, nor to know if this figure of 50% includes manufacturing partners, we can all understand the fact that the remaining materials are reused. I also very much like the idea that the MacBook Air I hold in my hands may have already started to be a MacBook Pro or even an iPad Pro.
To reserve the keyboard (which I will come back to in a few moments) are two sets of speaker grills. Apple says the audio system includes two new bbad units, one in each group of speakers, and a more powerful audio setup.
I have not been able to properly play music at full volume or watch streaming / watch anything, so I can not comment on it.
Zoom in to take a closer look at the ultra-shallow keyboard run of the 2018 MacBook Air.
Apple MacBook Air 2018 – Keyboard and Touchpad
The 2018 MacBook Air comes with the same third-generation butterfly keyboard that we saw for the first time with the 2018 MacBook Pro lineup.
They are in a way a divider of opinion. Personally, I like them, but after spending the last few weeks using laptops with more traditional scissors key keys, I can say that the initial feeling of typing on the 2018 MacBook Air is quite strange.
The keys have a very shallow path, which takes a little time to get used to. I can normally comfortably sail more than 100 hits on the Type Racer, but at first I dropped typos with the MacBook. I am much happier with the feel and disposition of it now.
Despite my first manipulations with the keys, I very much like the layout of the keyboard. Nothing seems too narrow or grouped and with the exception of the up and down arrow keys, most of the keys are generously sized.
The trackpad is also very fluid and clever, so much so that I had to reduce the responsiveness in the settings. I also had to do that with the MacBook Pro. I also did not experience bending like I did with the MacBook Pro.
Force Touch, a setting that allows you to gently tap the touchpad instead of clicking, is enabled by default. Personally, I do not like this, because I find it easy to accidentally click on links when accidentally browsing the Web, but it is easy to shut down, which is not a problem .
The Touch ID fingerprint scanner power button allows you to easily unlock the MacBook Air and confirm your iTunes purchases with one click.
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Apple MacBook Air 2018 – Screen
The MacBook Air screen measures 13.3 inches diagonally and inserts 2560 x 1600 pixels into this space. This gives you a number of ppp (pixels per inch) of 226.9.
Using an X-Rite i1 colorimeter and DisplayCAL software, I recorded a peak brightness of 304.48 nits. With the screen thoroughly, I recorded black levels of 0.6 nits. These two results give us a contrast ratio of 501: 1. These results correspond to the standard of what you should expect from something that will cost you a bit more.
300 nits is perfectly fine for working and watching movies, but it can be a bit dark for those who wish to do photo editing. In contrast, the 2018 MacBook Pro that I tested at the beginning of the year provided me with an extremely high brightness of 514 nits.
The coverage of the color range is equally impressive. MacBook Air's screen occupies 93.3% of the sRGB color space, which is what most artists, designers and digital photographers will work on. This means that the web pages and everything you are working on will be rich and dynamic. It's a cliché to say that the colors "burst" on the screens of laptops, but they do rather on the MacBook Air.
The tests on the Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 series, preferred by some digital photographers, have been less impressive. Generally, anything that scores 80% or more in these spaces will be usable, but I got 68.2% and 70.8% respectively. If your main reason for choosing an Apple laptop is a photo job, you should still watch the MacBook Pro. This point is therefore irrelevant.
All the same, here's how the MacBook Air's screen compares to its competitors at similar prices and specifications in terms of color space coverage:
| sRGB | Adobe RGB | DCI-P3 | |
| Apple MacBook 2018 | 93.3% | 68.2% | 70.8% |
| LG Gram (14Z980) | 94.9% | 67.5% | 70.6% |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 6 | 90.2% | 62.4% | 64.2% |
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Apple MacBook Air 2018 – Performance
Until now, I could only run Geekbench 4 on the MacBook Air. The scores I got do not compare very well to some laptops we've tested recently.
| Geekbench 4 single-core | Geekbench 4 multi-core | |
| Apple MacBook 2018 | 4248 | 7820 |
| LG Gram (14Z980) | 4085 | 11888 |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 6 | 4080 | 13913 |
Note that Geekbench is a processor stress test. Therefore, these numbers do not really reflect the overall performance of the MacBook Air, but this should give you an idea of how it will handle daily tasks compared to major competitors.
It should also be noted that the MacBook Air I am testing is equipped with an Intel Core i5-8210Y processor whose base clock speed is 1.6 GHz, while the LG Gram and Microsoft Surface Pro 6 are equipped with an i5-8250U with the same basic clock. . Although these two computers are from the 8th generation of i5 notebooks, the U Series processors generally run a little better than their series counterparts.
On the flip side, the Y series chips are less thirsty. The MacBook Air could therefore be more successful in battery consumption tests than Gram and Surface Pro 6.
I will update this section when I have done other stress tests and performance tests.
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On the other side, you get a 3.5mm headphone jack … and that's it.
Apple MacBook Air 2018 – Specifications
Here's how the specifications of the 2018 MacBook Air Series compare. The model I sent for review has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, of which 250.69 GB is immediately available to the user.
| MacBook Air 2018 | |
| Display | 13.3-inch Retina display, 2560 x 1600 LED, 300 nits |
| Processor | Intel Core i5 8G dual-core 1.6GHz processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz), 4MB L3 cache |
| Memory | LPDDR3 RAM 8 GB / 16 GB 2133 MHz |
| Storage room | 128 GB SSD, 512 GB, 1.5 TB for SSD / 256 GB, 512 GB, 1.5 TB for PCIe |
| GPU | Intel UHD Graphics 617 |
| The ports | 2 x USB Type C (Supports Thunderbolt 3), 3.5mm Headphone Jack |
| connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2 |
| Misc | FaceTime HD 720p camera, Touch ID, T2 security chip, 3rd generation butterfly keys |
| Dimensions | 4.1-15.6 × 304.1 × 212.4 mm |
| Weight | 2.75 lbs (1.25 kg) |
| Drums | Up to 13 hours of video playback (iTunes) |
| Price scale | £ 1199 – £ 2579 |
There is a lot to love about Apple's new money surfer.
First impressions
My first impressions of the 2018 MacBook Air are extremely positive.
You get all that is great with the MacBook Pro: Retina screen resolution, increased security thanks to the T2 chip, Touch ID for easy unlocking and safer – at a lower price.
Although thin corner-shaped laptops are not new, the MacBook Air is also sleek, lightweight and offers a premium feel.
I would also put the butterfly keyboard as an advantage, but I am aware that some people are not interested in this.
A big disadvantage is the lack of ports. If you're thinking of buying a new 2018 MacBook Air, get ready to buy accessories. While the standard Thunderbolt is incredibly versatile, the LG Gram proves that it is possible to create a ultra-flat and powerful ultrabook and load more than two USB-C ports.
Plus, at the high end of the MacBook Air price range, you start getting lost in the MacBook Pro's territory. So I wonder if it's really worth choosing a high-end model.
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